Political Leader Aims To Run Over Plan For Car Tax

ANTHONY MAN COMMENTARY

January 15, 2005|ANTHONY MAN COMMENTARY

The head of an influential Palm Beach County political group is grateful, in a way, for the decision by Tri-Rail's governing board to grant its executive director family health care for life, even if he's fired. John R. Smith is using it as ammunition against the agency's attempt to impose a license plate surcharge on every vehicle in South Florida.

Smith is chairman of BIZPAC, a group of chief executive officers whose endorsements are coveted by candidates.

He dispatched an e-mail the other day to business leaders and elected officials pointing out the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority's generosity, which the agency defends on the grounds that it's standard practice in the world of public transit.

Smith hopes it helps derail the agency's attempt to win legislative approval for a $5 annual surcharge on license plate renewals. "This provides the business community with a crystal ball to glimpse into the future of this authority."

The $5 fee already was a tough sell. In 2003, legislators killed the idea of a $2 fee despite support from the leading business organizations and county commissions in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Proponents are trying again this year, except now they want a higher fee and they want an automatic inflation increase every year. They want to use the $22 million generated each year as a local match to attract federal money to the region.

Smith said there's no way a $5 fee, which he said should be labeled a tax, would cover the RTA's dreams. He predicted a spending spree and ultimately much higher taxes if the agency gets a toehold.

Business is not united on this one. Fearing congestion could choke the region's economic growth, many business leaders are looking for new avenues to relieve traffic.

SCRIPPS STRAINS

County Commission passions once again are running high. And once again, the stress emanates from The Scripps Research Institute.

The super-high stakes and the often-secretive nature of the effort to bring Scripps Florida to the county have tended to breed suspicion.

At the beginning, commissioners Karen Marcus and Mary McCarty were the ones most in the know, with others unhappy about being out of the loop.

Last week McCarty was concerned that Marcus was holding out. Marcus, who was commission chairwoman until November, is now the designated Scripps coordinator. She said nothing at Tuesday's commission meeting about concerns flaring in Tallahassee, which prompted her to fly to the capital Thursday.

That prompted a memo from McCarty asking for a report on anything and everything Scripps related at every commission meeting.

Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti responded with his own observation that "there has been enough secrecy involved in the project from the beginning and our credibility has been called into question on more than one occasion."

From now on, he said, "any and all information" should immediately go to all seven commissioners.

NEW NAME

OK. Let's stipulate that "clerk of the circuit court" neither sounds exciting nor conveys the breadth of the clerk's powers, which include acting as watchdog over County Commission-authorized spending.

Still it was a surprise when the new circuit court clerk, Sharon Bock, decided to rename her office "clerk and comptroller," even going so far as to create a new official seal.

Bock said the lack of public awareness of her office's duties was a problem. "I must make the office better," she said.

Of course, Bock can call herself anything she wants, and some other clerks have done the same thing. Unchanged is that pesky Florida Constitution, the document that created the job and calls it "clerk of the circuit court."

SHAW STOPS

U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, spent a chunk of the week in the Palm Beach County part of his district, which includes coastal and north-central communities.

He met with County Administrator Bob Weisman for a Scripps briefing, new Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to discuss terrorism, and new Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson for a get-acquainted session.